I am planning to implement my product website on Webflow. However, there are geographical differences for this product that I need to be explicit about on the website:
Here is my planned implementation and ideal flow:
For users from Japan, when they enter example.com, they will see a special version of the website as there is a special version of the Japan product (“Version Japan”).
For all other users, when they enter example.com, they will see the other version of the website (Version ex-Japan)
Here is a complication:
For each version of the website (Version Japan or ex-Japan), I want to offer language options for users to switch language. This means that users on Version Japan can switch to perhaps 5 other languages, but each of these 5 languages will be the translated version of Version Japan.
On the other hand, users on Version ex-Japan can also switch to the same 5 other languages, but similarly, when switched, it will keep them in Version ex-Japan but in the 5 other languages.
This has got to be a very common scenario faced, yet I am stumped on how to best handle this. Here is what I have found:
For redirection, I can use something like Cloudflare redirect rules, or Geo Targetly.
For language selection, I can use Webflow Localisation, or Weglot/other third parties. I am leaning away from Localisation due to the high costs for the number of languages I need.
It seems like I am going to end up with a web of subdirectories.
For example, Version Japan is going to have example.com/jp/XX with XX being one of the supported translated languages.
Version ex-Japan is going to have example.com/en/XX for each of the languages as well. I believe I need to have /en/ as a base subdirectory for Version ex-Japan as users outside of Japan should have the option to translate the website to Japanese (but in Version ex-Japan content). This means that example.com/jp cannot be used as a translated version of Version ex-Japan and needs to exist inside the /en/ subdirectory.
If the sites have important and substantial differences than the common solution is to have two sites. In your case both of the localized with 5 languages.
If the delta is small, consistent, and easily identified in code-
A handful of pages/links that only exist on the JP site
Certain sections/elements that only exist on the pages of the JP site
Then it’s reasonable to manage those changes using a reverse proxy setup and something like cloudflare workers, which uses geoip info to make those changes for you.
Keep in mind this requires some specialized configuration knowledge and a real understanding of your site’s navigation and SEO setup, to make it work properly for your users and searchbots.
Webflow’s localization is well-designed in its sitemap and page integration, so your RP can change your sitemap for the suppressed pages of the unsupported locales, and rewrite their alt lang tags as well.
Thanks for the response! Could you elaborate more on how to implement the reverse proxy setup or point me towards any resources? My team is hesitant to take on something too complex due to expertise (we have only resourced a designer and PM) and we don’t get to manage our own Cloudflare setup as well (networking team).
The delta between the JP and ex-JP version is also really small, like a few elements as you mentioned. There might also be more geographies that become JP-style in the future (need their own country-version) so paying for 2 sites might not be practical and scalable as well.
I build RP’s as one of my main services and I quite like the Cloudflare stack but it does require some specialized knowledge for Webflow. I’d recommend you find someone who’s experienced with Cloudflare workers and Webflow at least as a reference during your build, and you can DM me here if you want to chat more about that.
If you wanted to build it in house a good place to start is with Finsweet’s live videos discussing Cloudflare based RP’s, they give you a good overview on the setup configuration and the general approach. Nothing specific to localization or sitemaps I’m afraid, but the underlying setup is more critical at the start.
Thanks, took a look at Finsweet’s videos and it might be a potential solution.
But I was thinking - could Optibase just be my solution, where I simply ‘a/b test’ based on country on the different elements/text, since my delta is pretty small?
Possible, but most A/B test solutions perform the changes client-side using javascript which means they will only appear when someone has JS enabled, and search engines may not pick up those changes consistently.